WAVERLY, Iowa – The Wartburg College Knights (5-2, 1-1 overall) fell to the Coe College Kohawks (4-3, 1-1) 80-78 in a high-intensity affair on Saturday afternoon.


 
The Orange and Black got off to a quick start after senior guard Jaran Sabus (Urbandale) recorded a steal on the Kohawk's first possession and then followed up by connecting on a three-pointer seconds later to give the Knights an early 3-0 lead. Sabus would go on to score 14 of the Knights first 16 points en route to scoring 16 first-half points.
 
The Knights trailed for much of the first nine minutes before senior guard Camry Moore (Waverly) tied things up at 18 apiece with a pair of free throws with 10:41 left in the half. Moore followed up his free throws by recording back-to-back steals and a layup at the 9:57 mark to give the Knights their first lead (20-18) since 18:28 minute mark. The two teams would battle back and forth throughout the rest of the half, with the Knights heading into the break with the slim 35-34 lead.
 
Freshman forward Aidan Weber (Phoenix, Ariz.) connected on a jumper to begin the second half and gave the Knights a 37-34 lead. Both teams would exchange baskets over the next 10 minutes, with the two teams exchanging the lead six times in that span. Coe took a 67-65 lead with 7:44 to go when Austin Roth connected on a layup following a missed three-pointer from Weber.
 
Coe held on to the lead until the Knights clawed their way back in and captured the lead again when senior guard Cam Kickbush (Reinbeck) connected on one of his four three-pointers on the night to give the Orange and Black a one point lead (72-71) with 4:30 left to play. Back-to-back free throws by Sabus gave the Knights a three-point lead with 2:45 to go.
 
Coe forward Noah Timp and guard Adam McDermott combined to score the next six Coe points, before a layup by Sabus and jumper by Kickbush tied the game up 78-78 with 26 seconds to play. Coe began their offensive set and scored on a layup by Timp to take a two-point lead with four seconds to play. Kickbush received and attempted a heave at half court before time expired, but missed wide left as the Kohawks held on to defeat the Knights 80-78.
 
Sabus finished the night with 28 points and moved into 17^th in program history for scoring with 1,188 career points. He trails 16^th by two points (1,190). Sabus connected on five free throws, which ties him at fourth all-time (355) in program history for free throw makes.  Kickbush connected on four three-pointers to bring his career total to 182 makes, tying fourth place in program history. Kickbush trails third place by 21 treys.
 
The Knights return to play when they travel to Dubuque to face the Loras College Duhawks (4-1, 0-1) on Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 8 p.m.